The Sunspire [NaNoWriMo] yaaron, sun lo zara

4. Your toon woke up with one of the senses (sight, hearing, sense of touch, sense of smell, sense of taste) missing.

he'd fallen asleep midway up the highest peak in the sunspires, exhausted from travel and drained, nearly completely, of emotion. the first thing he noticed upon waking was that it was very quiet. it was soothing, for a long while; it was a silence that had eluded him for many moons, and he reveled in it. enjoying the calm that had fallen over him like cool spring rain.

and then he coughed, and noticed that he did not hear that either.

or. . .did he? no, he only sensed the vibration of it, and perhaps his brain manufactured a sound to go with it. blinking, aditya coughed again, and again, nothing but sensation. no noise. beginning to breathe a little heavier, he scrabbled to his paws, sending rocks tumbling down the slope (with no sound), his heart pounding in his chest (but not in his ears).

trembling all over, he lifted his head and sent a lengthy tenor howl into the morning air—

and he might as well have called into a black hole, for it was completely and utterly silent.

Your toon loses one of the senses: sight

Wraen had returned to her former home in Sunspire in her dreams, walked all the old paths, explored corners, visited old denning sites and enjoyed the wonderful view from the stony teraces near the peak. Though there were a lot of unpleasant memories tied to this, she found that the place was still dear to her. She made a mental note to come and visit this place with Maia.

And with this happy thought in mind she had woken up, opened her eyes and saw... nothing. She blinked few times and rubbed her muzzle with her paws, but this did not change the complete darkness around her. Had the world eneded without her knowing? Yet she still felt it's presence around her, myriad of smells tickled her nostrils, ears picked up the sounds. The world was there, Wraen was there as well, except something was missing.

A moment before she panicked, a deep and mournful howl echoed in the cliffs, not too far from, where she was. Desperate to talk with anyone, to have someone explain, what was going on, she got to her feet and stumbled towards the direction of the sound, without realizing that in few more feet the solid surface she was walking on came to an abrupt end. "Hey, are you here? I need help!" she called out as loud as she could, hoping to attract that person's interest.

this oughta be fun xD

even if he couldn't hear, it appeared that the calamity might be limited to him. a gray female came along the edge, shouting something (or so it appeared by the wideness of her mouth, the frenzied look in her eyes). adi watched her for a long moment, in a daze—until he realized she was a heartbeat away from tumbling over the edge.

arrey! stop! don't move! he yelled out into his own private void of silence, racing toward her while being mindful of his own steps. hopefully, by the time he'd arrived, she'd heeded his words. for now, he tried to wedge his way between her and the empty air. god help them if she careened into him and sent them both flying.

his stomach clenched, being so near nothingness, and he turned his gaze over to the young woman. her eyes were open, so why didn't she. . . are you all right? he said, though of course he couldn't hear the question; instead, he waited to see it register across her face.

It was unusual to be fully aware of the world around her, but at the same time see none of it. Just as she thought about it, her step slowed and became less confident and she began to search her way forward, testing the surface with her muzzle and paws. As such her progress was slow and Aditya's call reached her just in time to avert a tragedy. Wraen stopped, looked up (out of habit) and sensed someone else's presence in front of her. She leaned forward to sniff, then retreated a step or two and thought about his question a little, before giving an answer: "Not really, I can't seem to see anything. Someone turned out the lights." Her attempt to joke was flat and humourless. "Who are you?" she wished to know her saviour's name.

he struggled to read her lips, given that it was the only way to comprehend anything she was saying. most of it was just lost, and he blinked at her, mouth slightly agape, nothing resembling an answer reaching his lips. she was acting strange, as if lost in a dream, blind to—

blind? that certainly would make sense.

are you blind? aditya asked softly, his face gentle as he stared at her. blind wolves shouldn't be running around the mountains, yaar. can i guide you back home? which direction should we go? he might not be able to hear a thing, but he could see, and that seemed more important in their precarious position.

"As much as I would like to stick to that - lights off in the whole world..." Wraen began and then sighed in resign, "...I guess you are right. The world has not changed, has it?" Unable to see the invisible companion's struggle to read her lips and having only his voice for an indication that he was real, she had yet to find out that he too was affected by something. 

"I have no idea, where I am exactly," she went on, because at this point "Sunspire" was too broad of a term and too far away from Sun Mote Copse for her to tell exact and precise directions. "You could guide me away from the steep cliffs though," she suggested, trying to focus her blind gaze towards, where she thought the other person's face was, but missing the spot entirely. "I cannot guarantee that I won't run into problems on solid ground, but at least I will be in less danger of falling."

few of her words reached him, via lip-reading, but her inability to focus directly on one thing or another solidified it, for him. yes, she was blind. and even though he didn't have a clue where she lived, aditya did know that this was not the place for her.

gently, he began to herd her away from the edge. if she'd allow, he'd lay his neck across hers like someone throwing their arm around a disoriented friend, steering her down an alpine path. he didn't relax until they reached somewhat lower ground, a wide swath of land in a kind of bowl.

take a break? he asked, glancing over at her to register a response.

It was odd and scary at first to rely on someone's help so completely. Wraen had lost her independence very suddenly and had not yet got used to utilizing all her other senses. With every blink, every breath she took, she hoped fervently that her eyesight would be magically restored. That the darkness was temporary, it would clear and she would be able to look her helper in the eyes. 

But it did not happen and when the stranger offered her to rest, she agreed gladly. "Thank you!" she turned to, where she thought the man was standing, but in reality was staring blankly in the opposite direction.

[Here her dream ended and she woke up, relieved to find out that she could see again.]

Cleaning my threadlog and narrowing down the number of threads I have. Thank you for joining and I would love the two to meet in real life sometime.